Progress
by Cupe
Summary: A late night visit to a seemingly empty world for relaxation and musings is brought to an abrupt end when a persistent scientist goes looking for his wayward friend. Slight VexZex if you squint.


_**(Author's Note: I'm not dead! Just...Knitting XD It's so horribly addicting and I have several things I need to get done so I can begin on birthday presents for various friends...Plus throw in college work and recent purchase of SoulSilver and FFVII and KHII sitting on my desk well, you get the picture XD. BUT! I am going on holiday next week and I'm not so sure I'll have internet *sad times* but I'll try to write in the time I'm stuck in a caravan XD.**_

_**Anywho, hope you like this piece. It may be a little description heavy but I kinda like it. It's literally hot off the press so if I've messed up grammatically, let me know!)**_

Wind chimes toll in the distance, the only sweet sound in the windy night. Leaves fall, ripped from their branches and drift to the ground. A lone silhouette against the moonlight runs for cover. No knowledge of direction, just running blindly for a shadow ahead darker than the rest. He stops, rests his hand against cool, weathered stone, empty breaths chill his tongue and he wets his cracked lips, looking up to the stars, hoping he can use them for navigation. No use. For all his education he is useless without a compass. It does not really matter. He sits down on the cold floor, cushioned only by the sparse weeds that have determinedly sprouted forth from the rock. He turns one idly in his fingers, the thorny stem tries to pierce his fingers but cannot breach the leather gloves he wears. The man, no boy, releases it. His figure is that of a child barely in the grasp of puberty but the starless eyes reveal an older, more jaded mind than any child should ever have.

Of course, he is no ordinary being. He is a Nobody. No heart. No soul, some said. He was unsure whether to believe them or not. His former life had been dedicated to science, he had had no time for spirituality or anything outside of a controlled environment. Oh, the irony of his current situation. Nothing was controlled any more, always something new and unexpected coming his way. Their way. He was part of a collective, after all, even if it felt as if none of them truly understood. They had tried, always had. Ever since a younger version of himself had been found clinging to his mother's lifeless body the others had tried to reach him and had failed. Small victories, such as coaxing him to speak for the first time, had been won, but never had he truly shown them what lurked inside his head. He kept it hidden away beneath a mask of indifference.

Funny how things worked out. In exchange for his scarred heart he had been blessed with the power to make others see things other than his façade. Illusion. Such a pleasant dream. One that would never end, if he so chose. Well, until this body withered and broke as it may never do. He did not exist lawfully in this world, why would his body obey its rules? If it had aged at all since he ceased to breath, it was only very slightly. Some of the others had been reborn changed...Perhaps that was their will that they appeared different from their former selves. He wondered if he existed as a child still for the same reasons; a subconscious wish to regain the carefree joy of before. So very long before...

"Zexion."

He jumped, jerking away from the wall and scrambling to his feet, automatically taking a defensive stance, impenetrable blackness already sparking at his fingertips. He relaxed when recognition set in. He straightened, throwing a scowl towards the direction of the voice,

"I thought I told you never to follow me, Four." He hissed irritably, a low growl leaving his lips when a hand ruffled his unruly hair.

"And I thought I told you not to go off on your own like this. It's dangerous." There was no condescension in his voice but it annoyed Zexion nonetheless,

"I'm not defenceless."

"Perhaps not, but I worry about you." At the boy's scoff Four smirked lightly, "Deny it all you like, it won't change it." He turned to look off into the moonless sky, "We all do. You took this harder than any of us," He took Zexion's silence as a begrudging affirmation. "You're not alone, Ienzo, not as alone as you might think...If you would only-"

"Insist all you want, it won't change." He spat the other's words straight back at him, folding his arms across his chest, slightly defensive. The other male just shook his head, the action barely visible in the darkness, and leant back against the wall Zexion himself had been relaxing against not five minutes before.

"You could have picked a cheerier world to mope in."

"I was _not_ moping. If you only came here to irritate me, consider it a job well done, now kindly _leave_." When it became clear that Four would do nothing of the sort, he sighed, resting himself against the wall once more and enjoyed the silence.

"We will become whole once again." Four broke the quiet first, glancing sideways at the boy, placing a cold hand on his shoulder.

"And what if I don't care to regain it?" Zexion glared at him.

"You will, you'll see." He smiled at him,it widening when the younger male just sighed and rolled his eyes which was as good an agreement as he was really going to get from him.

They were both quiet then until it grew late enough for them both to have to retire to the empty world they called home for the rest their bodies still needed. Though they parted without a word and Zexion acted as irritable as he always did, he hadn't made a move to remove Four's hand from his shoulder.

It wasn't much, but it was progress.

**_(Post Script: As usual, please leave me feedback and general reviewage, I do so love them 3_**

**_When The Gods is uhm...It's on my mind, I haven't forgotten it! I'll hopefully begin the new chapter in the near future...So stay tuned!)_**


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